


The French Job

by Hopeful_Foolx



Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Alana Saves the day - freeform, Blood and Injury, Concussions, Day 15 - Into the Unknown, Gunshot Wounds, Hallucinations, Hallucinogens, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, People straight up not having a good time, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27030496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopeful_Foolx/pseuds/Hopeful_Foolx
Summary: What happened in France. Whumptober day 15 - Science gone wrong, Alt. 14 - shot, day 26 - Concussion/Headache
Relationships: Daniel Jacobi & Alana Maxwell, Daniel Jacobi & Warren Kepler, Daniel Jacobi/Warren Kepler
Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945483
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I told you guys I would write this xD So, this is what happened in France and what I have now referenced mutiple times. I had a running gag with a friend that all missions go wrong in France - because the one time I went there I immeadiately got sick. But not the way Kepler does, of course.

“And another room. I like this mission, it’s so calm”    
  
“Careful, I can set an alarm off if you want to have more of a challenge”    
  
“No, thank you. I’m fine here. Third floor is clear, I know this is not what we were going for, but it’s really abandoned. Did any of you meet literally anyone?” Kepler listened to them bicker. He decided to let them, they deserved a calm mission - or not really calm, but not as hard as the others had been. They had had a few hard months, and he couldn’t deny that a small break was appreciated. It was really just collecting and destroying, the facility in France abandoned and the rooms quiet. 

“I like this. Also, the third floor is all set. You’ll make eyes when this goes down” He didn’t chuckle but his mouth twisted upwards still. Maxwell got them in, Kepler himself made sure everything was clean, and Jacobi was supposed to blow the place up. It wasn’t enough to have him let his guard down, and he expected the same vigilance from his team, but still. They were a good team, after all, the best.

“Second level basement, there is nobody here but samples in the rooms. If you finished sassing the furniture, would you mind joining me?” He chimed in when he saw the heavy metal doors, only small windows of thick proofed glass on the left. One of the rooms had been clean, but the other still had glass cabinets lining the walls.    
  
“On my way, Sir” He shoved the door open, checking the room, gun drawn, every corner. Nothing. Another door, shoved open, room checked. Just cabinets, but filled this time. It took him a moment to make it out in the dim lights. The second room was much darker, and he cursed when he cut his hand on a sharp shard of… glass.    
Glass was all over the room, someone didn’t want to leave anything behind, as it seemed. All the vials were smashed, whatever in them long since evaporated or dried on the floor. It looked oily, and he wiped his hand on his trousers so as to not leave DNA between the mess. Files littered the other part of the room, ripped out pages, and he crouched down to look at them. Chemical formulas, neat but small handwriting. He’d ask Jacobi to look through them and take some, as he was not going to ditch his gun or get blood over it. Especially not here. It was a basement, maybe that was the reason he felt so uneasy. So… wrong. He wasn’t an easily spooked man, no matter what, he had seen too much as to call something not man-made. But the room gave him the creeps nevertheless, why would someone break the cabinets that way? Rip the pages and not burn them? It made no sense, why this way if there were easier ways? And really, why just this room? According to Maxwell, she was able to retrieve the data from the computers on the first floor. Nobody wiped it, they just ran. Something was wrong, and all of it had sent him here. Down here. They got the power back on on these levels, when they realized the building was empty. And with the humming lights, gently flickering, Kepler couldn’t help but feel… watched. Was it watched? The tiny hairs on the back of his neck told him it was a sense of being watched, but was it really? It felt… he shook his head. No. Paranoia was one thing, but not down here. He wouldn’t call it spooky just because he felt a little tingle. Not this fast.

“It seems like they did leave something behind. Part of it is labeled as deadly, most of it toxic. Jacobi?” He finally remembered to inform his team. For a moment, only static filled his comms. Strange, he thought, but the moment passed and only added to the string of weirdness already around them.   
  
“Three minutes” He could make out, the same moment Maxwell informed him she was checking the entries for anything to help.    
It was most curious, he decided as he turned around to take the room in again. Even while seeing every corner, every angle, he didn’t feel alone. There was nothing in here with him, there simply couldn’t be, but it felt like there was. He checked the broken cabinet door again. Broken. If the door was functional, why? Back in the other room, the light almost hurt after how dim it was before. Steps. He checked his comms but only static again, louder this time. Static. Steps outside. The gun in his hand was the only safety, and he purposely kept his breathing down when he realized it. 

There was someone down here with him. It couldn’t be Jacobi, he was still too far away, and not Maxwell, she would have told him. Someone or some _ thing _ , he suddenly realized - what had smashed the glass? What had ripped the pages? Why did they leave everything here as it had been?    
He backed against the next wall, an empty building, how was he so stupid? He ran straight into a trap, this room even more so, and there was no way out. He led his team down here too, but when he pushed his comms, again, only static followed. There was no time to curse, only to check his gun again. They turned up the lights, enough that it hurt and how could he be so badly prepared? They all were. Maybe, whatever walked towards him, he could at least fight it off until Jacobi got here. The man was so skilled with firearms, with the both of them, nothing could hold them off. And if his comms worked, they could reach Maxwell to trap whoever,  _ what _ ever, down here. The steps, closer now, and he knew it wasn’t human. As much as he knew he was Warren Kepler and his team was upstairs, he knew whatever came here, wasn’t human. He felt cold sweat on his forehead, still hiding, at least one moment of surprise the only advance he had when fleeing was out of the question. He could do it, if Jacobi was also on the way. They could do it. 

Closer. Stopping. All he could hear was his own breathing in his ears and he knew that it was wrong, but the thought got squished only a second later. Something was coming. 

He saw it walking into the room, too careless, maybe feeling too safe, one step, he heard it too loud and he was behind it, ready to grab it in a chokehold but it ducked, too fast, ducked away. Shouted too loud for him to understand so maybe it wasn’t shouting, maybe it was something else but what? A screech? And in his mind, it turned into one when he thought that, a screeching being, not human, a threat, built in this laboratory. 

He tried to land a hit on it, but it was too shaky, distorted, even, he couldn’t make out the features. His mind turned on autopilot. Hit, duck, hit and kick, again and again but it seemed to see every move before he made it, he landed a few and took a few himself, but what was their plan? What was it it wanted? To just knock him out, drag him to whatever place it called its home? And if yes, then how could he escape? Where was Jacobi? 

Where was Jacobi? Did it get him already, on its way? Did it surprise him there? Because he didn’t come, he wasn’t here, and Kepler didn’t fight for just knocking out, but he was too close to land a good shot.    
He turned around, ducked under its arm or whatever passed for it and kicked it away from himself, when suddenly, something else appeared - but still not Jacobi, another distorted figure, another one of these  _ things _ . Two of them? A partner, a friend? He tried to make it to the door, not sure which one he shoved away and kicked it again and again, until it fell, away, he needed to get away - clear shot. There were steps again, he heard his own heart beating and his breathing wheeze but he had a clear shot, loaded, aimed - 

Shoot. 

The noise echoed, in the room, in the hallway, in his head. The worst was his head. Pain erupted behind his eyes, eating a burning line through the middle of his head and his vision changed, turned much darker and he caught a glimpse of Jacobi. Where did he come from? He wanted to ask but all he could focus on was the growing red spot on his stomach. Jacobi. The thing had gotten Jacobi-

He felt his gun fall from his numb fingers when he grabbed his head, it was eating into his skull, his eyes - before something hard hit the back of his head and the last thing he saw before darkness swallowed him were Jacobi’s wide eyes, looking only at him. 


	2. Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 16, alternative prompt 14 - Shot.

Jacobi stared at Maxwell even after she knocked Kepler out. She was still holding the metal pole in her hand, after he had managed to knock the gun out of her hand. 

“Maxwell” He was panting, clutching his stomach with blood seeping through his fingers, but he wasn’t really feeling it. It was there, yes, but more in the back of his mind than anything else. He still stared at Kepler. 

  
“Is he…” She slowly let the pole sink, eyes wide behind her glasses.    
  
“Breathing” He observed and swallowed, leaning back against the next available surface, “He’s breathing, but…” What happened? He wanted to ask that, scream that, but shout it at Kepler, not Alana. Kepler who finally stopped fighting them, even if only after they knocked him out. He took a shaky breath and put his other hand over the wound when the pain finally cut through, “ _ Fuck”  _ At that, Maxwell came back to life, shaking her head and being next to him in an instant. 

“Through?” he nodded. The shot had been too close, and he was fairly sure he heard it hit the wall, “Okay, you keep pressure there, I’ll get you out of here. I don’t know what kind of chemicals are around here, but we don’t want that in your wound, alright?” He nodded, teeth gritted together. He hadn’t expected that, and the pain was not hitting him all the way yet because he was still too much on adrenaline, too confused. She put one of his arms over her shoulders in a swift motion and pulled him to his feet - it pulled, sharp and stinging, as if the skin was stretched over too little skin, too thin. He looked down to it and how blood was coating his shirt. Where did he leave his jacket? Should they leave Kepler like that? The burning agony in his side made it hard to think, hard to concentrate and he lost track for a moment.

“Hey, don’t pass out on me now” What? Maxwell’s voice brought her back to the present. He shook his head and groaned the moment he opened his eyes to answer. He could feel blood running over his fingers and down his leg.

  
“Seriously what the fuck happened” he gritted out with closed eyes, “he just... attacked me out of nothing, wouldn’t hear a word, not even react”

“They experimented with hallucinogens, I read it in the files” she answered and sat him down on a chair in an abandoned break-room, before grabbing a bunch of folded towels from the counter, “brace yourself, this is going to hurt” She didn’t give him time and pressed down hard.    
Static fills his ears, static and nothing else, static in his ears, his head, his head is thick and heavy with it and he is on fire. It ran up to his chest and down his leg like a burning fuse inside of him, the warm blood turning cold and clammy on his skin and his hands clenched into fists so tightly his fingers tingled. 

“Understatement” he finally more coughed than said, “why is his aim so good, why-” he broke up when she ripped off a strip of tape and and he had to press his lips together to keep from screaming as the burning fuse caught on fire again, when she taped her patching-job closed.

“Hey, be glad it wasn’t better or you’d be dead” No, he decided, then it would hurt less so like hell he would be grateful! Not for the searing pain, not for how he could barely breathe through his nose but his mouth was off-limits. Not for how he was too dizzy to even listen to anything and not when it took him so long to get his breathing under control. He tasted blood in his mouth when he did. 

“How will we get out of this one?” was the first thing he heard when he heard anything clearly again, “I called for extraction, but does this mission count as failed?” Extraction. Yes, of course, they had extraction since they were in Europe, “And we still have too much time until then” He swallowed with a too thick tongue, 

“Can you… Can you make sure Kepler is… Out?” He put a bloody hand over the makeshift bandage, “Don’t want to…” He just gestured and she nodded. He probably would be out for quite some time, actually, since the hit on the head had been pretty hard. But they couldn’t really risk it, could they, and also, he needed a moment. Just a short one, to recapitulate what happened in the span of the last ten minutes. Was it more? He wasn’t sure, but it couldn’t have been much more.    
Kepler called him down here, and god, he hadn’t even  _ seen _ him standing there until he saw something out the corner of his eye and ducked away on reflex. The way he looked at him, as if he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, how brutally he attacked him, when Jacobi was trying to knock him out, he was going for the kill, just too close to shoot. He should have taken care of the gun, yes, but as much as he tried, Kepler just got more aggressive. Not hearing, not even reacting to any word. He could have killed him, if Maxwell didn’t show up - he might have. He still could, judging from the growing redness under the improvised bandage. Even taped close it could only do so much, and he didn’t like the idea of cotton in his body. Or worse. 

“How are you feeling?” Maxwell appearing again brought him back to reality.   
  
“Shot at” he grunted and shook his head, “what do you need?”    
  
“I am not sure if I can carry him outside alone, even with the elevator. He’s a lot heavier than he looks” Probably the fact that he had about fifty hidden weapons on his body, Jacobi assumed, an information that had nearly cost him an eye when he acquired it.    
“But he’s out, probably pretty concussed. Did you cut his hand?” He shook his head again. “I checked the room, and there was fresh blood on one of the glass doors. If he got cut there, then that’s probably how the stuff got into his system” He wanted to ask if there was any information in the databanks, but the same moment he remembered how little time passed just now. No way she could know. Instead he reached out a hand, bracing himself for the pain again, pressing his mouth shut to contain a groan when Maxwell pulled him to his feet. It took him a moment of swaying until he found his footing, but with her support he managed to stay upright. How they were supposed to carry their Colonel out like this way beyond him. 

“Explosives” he gritted out and nodded over to his bag on the floor, “I still need to place them down here. Switch’s in there too”

It was gruesome, to say the least. By the time he placed his charge all around the corridors and rooms he was sweating, even more unsteady on his feet and blood was soaking his shirt again. He managed to place them without Maxwell’s help but only out of pure stubbornness, and when he returned to the room and slipped an arm around Kepler to help Maxwell with him, keeping his eyes open was a chore. 

“Daniel, seriously, can you do it?” He knew she must have asked before, maybe even multiple times, but he didn’t remember. Every step sent more pain up his side, even when he was prepared it seemed to hurt more with every movement. Kepler pulled him down, and still there was no way he would let go. Even like this he had seen the blood running down his head and neck. So he held on and kept his mouth shut, not even answering Maxwell when they finally entered daylight. Step, pain, step, agony, step, burning up and down. So deep. It couldn’t go deeper but still did, and he knew it wouldn’t be long until he would pass out from blood loss rather than from pain. 

He wanted to cry when he saw the car.   
“Daniel? You can let go now, okay?” Let go? He was gripping tightly to Kepler’s shirt, he realized and let go instantly, but the moment the weight from his side was gone, he nearly lost his balance and sagged sideways against the car. Dizzy, nauseous, he couldn’t difference what it was when everything was just moving when he wasn’t, and his head pounded in the rhythm of his heart. His heart. That meant he still had one, right? Good, right? No, that it was beating. Of course he still had it. Stupid. Alright. He lost time in between, and found himself on the passenger seat when he next opened his eyes, the switch still in his hand. 

  
“Half a mile” he mumbled, “tell me when we’re away half a mile, then I can… Blow things up” He would stay awake for that. If for nothing else, he would stay awake for that. Half a mile. It seemed to last forever until he could make out the words and set the explosion off, it seemed like forever and he was unable to move much more than to stare at his own ghostly face in the passenger side window. Half a mile. Click.    
Boom. 

He saw the explosion and that was when the last of his strength finally left him. He grinned, seeing the fire meant that he had done at least  _ something _ right. He sagged sideways and heard Alana say his name, but everything else drowned in the utter dizziness his head was filled with. It wasn’t even pain, because while this was still there, it was also in the background, numbed by how he was tired, exhausted, sore. Rationally, he knew Alana was calling his name. And rationally, the pain in his cheek should have been enough to wake him up. But it wasn’t. It just wasn’t, and then he himself wasn’t anymore. 

  
  
  


“I have a few good news and some bad news” It was the first thing that he heard, surfacing from the drugged nothingness of his mind, “which ones first?” He blinked into a white room, hard bed sheets - Goddard. Home, if he wanted to call it that. It took him a moment to take it in - the small room, machines, the patient gown, and Alana Maxwell, sitting with her feet on his bed and a laptop on her legs. 

“Good” he replied weakly and turned his head to look at her, “Glasses?” He automatically felt around for them and she pushed them into his hand. He could move, he realized, sore but on enough drugs to be able to. 

“You’ll be fine, no major organ injury, lucky you. You’ll be sore and all, but fine in the end” Sore - that part he felt, yes. 

“Kepler?” he swallowed and blinked a few more times to get his vision to clear, even with the glasses. He wasn’t as tired as he would have expected, though not sure how much time had really passed. Her face told him that the question was part of the  _ bad _ part of the news.

“They drugged the hell out of him - I was in there yesterday and he was talking but I don’t think he even realized I was there. They have him secured and all” Both of it made him wince. He knew exactly how badly Kepler reacted to pain medication of any kind. And restraints wouldn’t make that any better. 

“Ouch” He winced in sympathy.

“Yeah, pretty much. But that was mostly all of the bad news, good news again is how we blew the place up enough for the mission to still be a success” 

“So overall we’re…?” He nearly didn’t dare to ask.    
  
“Fine. Not good, but fine” Fine was well enough. He moved his hand to prod at the plaster on his stomach and winced. Not on enough drugs to be fully numb then, but he should have expected that since he could really talk to Maxwell. 

“Stop, they just cobbled you back together” Maxwell didn’t even look up from her screen, typing and talking at the same time. She was right, of course. He shouldn’t. It was just another scar for the collection, wasn’t it? No need to look at it. Just a neat hole on both sides. 

“Hey, Alana?”   
  
“What?” she raised her eyebrows over her glasses and looked up from her laptop. 

“Thanks” She scoffed, but smiled and then nudged his foot with hers. That’s what having each other's backs included. They had each other. If that included an improvised patch-up job and tape or buying coffee was not important. 

“It’s your turn next time” 


	3. Chapter 3

“Knock knock?” When he entered Kepler’s room two days later, Jacobi decided against standing in front of the door until he got an answer. Knowing Kepler at least a little, he also knew this told him nothing. Either he slept or he didn’t want to see anyone - or he moped, because he did that sometimes. Jacobi knew that as much as he knew that he liked to hear himself talk, and hated being weak and would right now probably rather die than try to figure out how to talk to Jacobi. If it went after his will, nobody would ever speak of it again, but he wasn’t having any of that. At first he thought he was sleeping, but then the man in the bed, laying on his side, sighed.

“Should you be out of bed, Mister Jacobi?” He didn’t look at him, face turned towards the window. This way he could see the white padding on the back of his head under the white bandage around it. He didn’t turn around when he limped over to him and carefully sat himself down on the bed, but at least he looked. 

“You didn’t visit me, so I thought you could do better” He joked but Kepler didn’t smile at it. He looked worse than Jacobi would have thought, Alana hadn’t been exaggerating when she told him she’d hit  _ hard _ . Even now his eyes seemed out of focus, but that could have a number of reasons.

“I’m afraid I’ve been…” He gestured around and only now Jacobi saw that they left the restraints on the bed, padded cuffs left and right. Even with the plain sweater he was wearing, he could still see his wrists being blue and scraped. He only just kept himself from reaching out and pushing the sleeve up to look. He wouldn’t, not now, not here. In a more private moment, yes. If Kepler let him, yes. Not as tense as this. Normally it wasn’t like this, because usually, if missions went wrong, they had someone to blame. They could fight about it, but he had never seen Warren Kepler look guilty. 

“I see” he finally said and forced himself to look away. Why did they leave the restraints? Was it Cutter sending a message? Did they expect him to lash out again?

“So, how can I help you, Jacobi?”

“I was serious, you weren’t visiting, I got worried” 

“I… Did not think I was the person you wanted to see” His gaze finally really wandered over to Jacobi and he fully sat up, though less graceful than usual, legs crossed. So they were having the conversation, perfect. 

  
“Sir, you got-” 

“Jacobi, I  _ shot _ you” It was said too quickly and he was rubbing his forehead saying it, “I could have killed you and I nearly did. So I have to admit that, when I am sure you wouldn’t want to see me right now, that is not too far stretched of an idea” Like this, he really saw the bruises. This wasn’t a Sir-moment. Not a professional one. It wasn’t just Colonel Kepler nearly killing his teammate, it was Warren nearly killing Daniel. 

“You got drugged, seriously” Jacobi sighed and put his hand next to himself on the bed, “And you weren’t in control. You wouldn’t normally do that, would you?” 

“Of course not” It sounded like he just got accused. 

“Great. Then we established that” 

“I am not apologizing, Daniel-” First names, but he again, he wasn’t having it. 

“No, come on” He looked over and as close as they were, he could see the deep shadows under his eyes. The dots on his skin, the scar just on the side of his nose. He hadn’t been sleeping, and if he had, then not peacefully.    
“I know you’re not, it wasn’t your fault. Could have been me, could have been Alana. It was a coincidence” He looked down to his bandaged hand. Why was it so easy to see it not as his fault? He didn’t know. Didn’t understand himself in that manner. Maybe because he knew Kepler wouldn’t? Maybe because he loved the man, even if he knew it would be his death one day?    
“And seriously, you missed your shot. I’m surprised you’re not moping about  _ that _ ” It was an attempt to loosen the tension of the situation and seemed to work at least a little - he stopped his motion of rubbing his head and froze.    
  
“Daniel Jacobi, I feel the need to inform you that I am not  _ moping _ ” It didn’t sound angry as it could have. Tired. Maybe a little relieved, but he gave him this benefit of the doubt. 

“Yes Sir, of course Sir” he answered mockingly and with raised eyebrows. He was allowed to tease, at least now. Figuring out Kepler hadn’t been easy, it nearly took him a year until he managed to, but the day he finally got it had been the same day they kissed under fireworks. 

“Does it still hurt?” Stupid question, and they both knew it. Still, it was the only real icebreaker he could think of.    
  
“My head does” he chuckled dryly, “Actually pretty badly. And you?” It was the most caring he would and could get and Jacobi took it without blinking.   
  
“Sore, mostly” He nodded to the cuffs, “why are those still here?” Kepler squinted over to them and rubbed his head again.    
  
“Apparently I attacked a nurse when I woke up. I don’t remember the incident - or attacking you, for that manner, but they seem to think it’s safer” He lifted his shirt on one side so Jacobi could see the bruises on his torso. Swollen and still bright purple. It was probably a miracle that he didn’t break a rib. But still, containing Warren Kepler took all the power they had, and that was just what it was. He itched to run gentle fingers over the pale skin but didn’t. Again. Not here. Not now.    
  
“Do you remember anything about it at all?” He leaned backwards a little when he let it fall again and Kepler sighed again. His straight posture spoke of pain, and Jacobi carefully brought his hand closer.   
  
“It’s blurry, I remember being in the lab and the broken cabinets, I knew I shot you. But that is all of it. Then I woke up here tied up like a christmas present. Not one of my brightest moments” Understatement of the year, but Jacobi let him. There were things he could tease about, and some he just didn’t.    
  
“So not worth a story then?” He chuckled and glanced over to Jacobi.    
  
“Naaah, I’ll make something out of it anyway” It sounded too quiet and he was still holding his head. 

"Hey, should  _ you _ be up, actually?" 

"Probably not, but I…" he leaned to the side and half fell, half let himself slide down onto the pillow again. Jacobi caught his shoulder by reflex to help him and got no protest.

"I'll listen to that for now" Not a good sign.

"Okay Maxwell was really really  _ really not  _ joking" He looked around for any extra pain meds and came up empty, “Didn’t they give you anything against that?”    
  
“They did, I didn’t want to,” He raised his eyebrows. 

“Care to tell me why?”    
  
“Nope” He sighed and closed his eyes, “Don’t want to” He wouldn’t get him to give him a clear answer and Jacobi didn’t try what was already doomed. He toyed with the idea to pull the blanket up but no. Better not. 

“Alright. Is there anything else? Something I can do to help?” He got a sigh in response. 

“What was Maxwell not joking about?” 

“She told me she hit you hard - probably a second time too, when we didn’t know what to do, really”    
  
“Good call” 

“Yeah, but I’m not so keen on repeating that scenario anytime soon - or ever again” 

“Fine by me” 


End file.
